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Psychology, being freed from the domination of philosophy and theology, is exposed now to fresh influences dangerous to its status and progress. Workers in the fields of applied psychology, often lacking philosophical or even strict scientific training, tend to be led astray by the fascination of theories to the neglect of good observation and the logic of science.
It has been among the merits of psycho-analysts to draw attention to the domination of thought by affect; but they themselves remain open to this domination, which is enhanced perhaps by their preoccupation with the affect-determined thinking of their patients. Moreover, in therapeutic practice there is an advantage in belief, irrespective of the truth of what is believed. These are among the explanations suggested for lack of scientific soundness in psycho-analytic theories.
A theory rests upon observations and inference. The observations of the psycho-analyst are not recorded as they are made and are open to the distortions of subsequent recollection. They are made upon people in an abnormal state, and cannot be verified by repetition, since identical situations are not to be reproduced. Too often the so-called facts upon which theories are built are themselves interpretations of the facts, the actual observations not being forthcoming. If guessing, under the guise of interpretation and phantasy, is to be substituted for patient observation, careful analysis and rigorous logical procedure, then there is danger of producing theories differing little from the myths, superstitions and animistic realities, which do not make appeal to logic or recognize the demand for objective proof.
The theories of psycho-analysis may be valued justly when regarded 'as merely descriptive, rather than explanatory or interpretative in a scientific sense—as picturesque myths, many of them ugly enough, but all of them interesting, myths which represent symbolically what appears to take place in the affective and impulsive